


The Dark Side of the Sun

by Meganechama



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-11
Updated: 2017-06-09
Packaged: 2018-03-17 09:24:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3524084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meganechama/pseuds/Meganechama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the verge of death after the bloody final battle, Kagome must come to terms with who it is she loves, or will she just die? I'm hoping for a long running tale that everyone will love. Hope you enjoy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Death

Disclaimer: Characters within belong to Rumiko Takahashi, unless they are my OCs in which they belong to me…  
I intend for this fic to be mostly young adult with sexual scenes at some point. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter one

I was dying.

It seems fitting that the last thing I see is his face. The last thing I feel, his long silver hair brushing gently across my cheeks. My tongue tasted the rich metallic tang of my blood, my lungs didn’t seem to want to work right, every breath was its own battle. I didn’t realize death would be so cold.

But his eyes were warm and so were his hands where he gripped my fingers, rubbing my hands to try to bring warmth where there was none. Seeing his desperation to warm me, his attention riveted on my face tears welling in eyes that were normally so hard and unshakable, I decided to revise my thoughts on my impending doom. I guess death wasn’t so bad if in the end even for just this moment, he was mine. The man I loved was at my side, my arch nemesis was at last dead, my friends were battered but alive, and the jewel of four souls was complete. Lying here, cold and dying, on the remnants of a battlefield, my life’s blood soaking into the soil, I was happy, content, because he was here with me and not with her.

“Inuyasha?” Her voice was like a perfect blade, sharp and beautiful, slicing into my happiness like a hot blade through butter. Her slender fingers curled around his shoulder, her body slid into view as she gracefully kneeled next to him causing his eyes to turn away from me. I gasped at the sudden pain, like a knife between the ribs, it pierced my heart. Another hand squeezed mine, and I watched Sango lean her body across mine and glare at Kikio. It relieved me to see someone else protesting her presence, as far as I was concerned the undead man snatcher was unwelcome at my deathbed. 

“How is she?” Kikio’s voice was subdued, guilty. My mouth twisted into a pained smirk. After all that she had done to me, all the times she had tried to kill me, to break me, and now, now, she was guilty. A hysterical giggle escaped me but it turned into a strangled gurgling cough as blood flooded up my throat and dribbled down my chin. Everyone held their collective breaths, tension filling the air, the hands gripping mine clamped down with desperate force as they watched me struggle to breathe, unable to save me. After what seemed like hours the agonizing paroxysms faded and my wheezing gasps filled the silence. 

Inuyasha’s voice split the silence, “I don’t think-“

“She’s going to be fine!” Sango snapped, glaring at Inuyasha. She snatched some more cloth from the pile next to him and turned to me, her eyes softening, and her face breaking into a gentle smile. She wiped the cloth across my chin, reaching up to tuck loose strands of hair behind my ear. “You’re going to be fine.” Her voice cracked, her hands trembled, and her careful expression of love and calm began to slide. Tears welled in her eyes and blurred her vision, spilling down her cheeks, “You’re going to be fine...please, please, be fine.”

“Sango…” Miroku shifted forward, reaching forward to grasp Sango’s shoulder. His face was drawn and pale, pain etched into every crease. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead and the hand that grasped her shoulder shook with small tremors. The remnant of his other arm was bandaged tightly, crimson staining the white cloth and dribbling down in a steady drip out of the bottom. His hand and most of his forearm were missing the stump shattered and irreparable; he would probably need the broken edge to be amputated up to the elbow, but he would live, and that was all that mattered. 

It had been a stroke of pure genius to use Miroku’s wind tunnel as our trump card in the battle, something Naraku would never see coming. Naraku, whom had been sure that the deadly tunnel was neutralized by his highly toxic hell wasps, had taken a decisive blow by underestimating the seemingly unthreatening human monk. During our war councils in the days before the final battle, the generals, including our little band, Koga’s tribe, the mighty Lord Sesshomaru, and other important powers, had continued to circle back to the massive power of the wind tunnel as a weapon, but no matter how many suggestions people came up with, no one could get past the hell wasps. We despaired of ever using it at all. Then it hit me, and I’d felt like an idiot for not thinking of it sooner. I would use two things Naraku could never see coming; Miroku’s wind tunnel and my modern technology. And all I needed was an antidote. We managed to catch and milk venom from several hell wasps and contain it in a ceramic jar which I used to carry the substance through the well to my time. It was surprisingly easy to get an antidote, venom researchers in my world jumped at the chance to analize an unknown toxin. The first had refused my offer, but the second agreed to sign an NDA* to keep my name and face away from the media. In exchange for him having the samples of venom and taking credit for the discoveries, he gave me the antivenins, no questions. Wasps nullified. The look on Naraku’s face when Miroku took no visible effect from the wasps had, truly, been priceless. Even now, lying on the ground, dying, I can’t help but smile at the memory.

Sango shifted, pressing a thick cloth to the gaping wound in my abdomen, and I contorted, moaning in agony. Dying hurt. I hadn’t realized it would hurt this bad. I mean, I’d known that death would hurt, but until you experience this kind of pain, pain that puts a one to ten scale to shame, pain that makes you wish you had a knife in your hands so you could just end it, there is no preparing for it. Agony ripped through every fiber of my existence, sawing me to pieces, my chest heaved desperate to draw in oxygen, my heart stuttered, and my mind was consumed by a never-ending tidal wave of agony. I forgot everything and everyone around me. I forgot Sango, pale and frightened, Miroku, drawn and fighting his own hellish agony, Kikio, aloof and beautiful, and him, Inuyasha, even he ceased to exist in the face of the white hot pain. Seconds stretched into hours, hours into days, days into months, but, eventually, the pain receded as my body began to shut down. My limbs grew heavy and cold, breathing became an act of will instead an act of unconscious thought, I had to fight to bring the faces around me into focus. And suddenly, as if the sun had risen, there he was again, handsome and strong…and…holding tightly to Kikio’s hand. The physical pain I had just barely managed to live through paled in comparison to my heart being eviscerated.

It was time. It was now or never. Time to come to terms with the truth; there had never been a chance for me to be with him. He was, and had always been, hers. My breath hitched, tears burning fiery tracks down the sides of my cheeks, but that was all I could allow, I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of seeing me weep. My fist clenched spasmodically, and I felt a hard warm roundness in my palm. The Shikon Jewel. One wish, that’s all it would take to make him mine forever. Could I do that? I looked at her, pale skin, long glossy obsidian hair that shined like fresh ink on paper, ruby red lips, a grace that was as natural to her as breathing; she was the embodiment of beauty. And damn it she’d had her chance, hadn’t she? My eyes moved to his face again, and found his eyes. He was looking at me bleakly, as if accepting that I was done and waiting for me to be gone, the panic he’d been in before was replaced with a calm acceptance of my inevitable death, and it stemmed from the hand behind him holding onto Kikio. He was drawing comfort from her, strength, when I died he would be ok. He would recover. He would be able to live on without me, but not her. No; if she died he would go with her, give up a part of himself to be with her. And in that moment I realized that I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t force him to love me and take away what he had for her. I couldn’t do it because I loved him to much to take away his shot at happiness. I didn’t want to settle for second place, it was all or nothing.

The act of lifting my arm was pitifully difficult. You don’t realize the natural strength your body has until it’s taken away from you. The simple act of lifting my arm, fist gripping the round smoothness of the jewel, up towards my face was massively draining. I began to gasp for breath, sweat misting my skin, and my arm shook violently, barely able to perform the command it was given. At last my weak limb completed its journey, resting my fist against my lips, and my fingers uncurled around the jewel until I held it between my thumb and forefinger against my lips. I heard Sango gasp, “of course!” She breathed her eyes shimmering with a sudden and profound hope. “The jewel can save her! Hurry Kagome, use it!”

I smiled softly to her, and then turned my head to meet his eyes; I wanted to look at him one more time. The last time before he became someone else’s; but then again, who was I kidding, he’d never been mine in the first place. I was just righting the universe. I closed my eyes unable to watch as I crushed my best friend’s hope, and also unable to watch as I ended any chance I had to be with my first love. I made my wish to the jewel. “Please give back the time that was taken from Kikio, so that she and Inuyasha can, at last, be happy together.”

Inuyasha’s clawed hand shot out gripping my wrist so hard the bones groaned, even through my numbed haze I was sure it should be hurting, a clear sign I was at death’s door. His super hearing must have caught my barely audible wish, “Kagome…no!” he gasped. His eyes were wide and wild, full of hope and longing, despair and regret. Sango’s eyes snapped towards Inuyasha’s horrified look, and then towards mine; realization dawning on her face, “Kagome,” she asked, her voice strangled with terror, “what did you wish for?”  
I smiled at her, closing my eyes against the glowing light spilling from between my fingers. Inuyasha’s grip tightened against my wrist, a desperate gesture, “Kagome, please…” he whispered softly, torn between begging me to stop and wanting me not to, but the deed was done. My arm settled onto my chest unable to support its own weight any longer, my numbed fingers still grasping the jewel even as the light intensified to a blinding white brilliance. The sudden darkness as the light suddenly died left us all blinded and holding our breaths waiting for something to happen. Into the silence of our baited breaths I whispered my final wish, the barely audible words startlingly loud in the tense silence, “Inuyasha, be happy, okay?” Accompanied by sharp crackling noises the jewel crumbled to dust, sifting from between my fingers, and Kikio cried out as a white hot fire tinged with an amethyst glow enveloped her body. She screamed twisting in agony as the flames charred her skin and burned away her hair the heat so intense even Inuyasha’s desperate attempts to smother the flames with his fireproof haori failed. I closed my eyes content and maybe even getting a little smug satisfaction at her painful rebirth soon it would be over for me as well as her. One of the deciding factors of me making the wish I made was the fact that she would need the other half of her soul, my half, and for me that was fine. It would be a quick and painless death. And I wouldn’t have to watch them be reunited and together at last. 

The radiating heat dimmed and the flames choked out leaving behind a crisped black shape of a female figure lying on her side. Inuyasha kneeled next to the burnt form afraid to touch it, making noises of distress. Everyone leaned forwards toward the figure sure she had died, although I knew better, then the figure shifted drawing a shriek from Sango, and Kikio sat up a thick layer of burned grave dirt falling from her pink, living, flesh. Her shaking hands reached up to touch her face, sliding over her cheeks and leaving muddy tracks through the thick wash of tears pouring from her eyes; eyes, that for the first time since she was resurrected didn’t reflect the constant burning hatred that fueled her unholy life in this world. Her hands slid down her neck and shoulders brushing more dirt from her body and revealing that she was naked the fire having consumed even her clothing. Inuyasha rushed to cover her nakedness with his scorched haori touching her with a tenderness that made me ache to my bones. She brushed the side of his cheek thanking him silently and turned to me her voice unsure, childlike, “why?” she asked. I opened my mouth to answer her but froze, watching as Inuyasha, again with that agonizing tenderness, gently brushed more dirt from her hair his gruff exterior portraying a softness I had never before seen. My heart broke again and again, an endless cycle of regression and breakage, all it took was picturing that look on his face and I would shatter again and again. I was supposed to have died when she was reborn, but I guess this would do the trick as well, my failing body couldn’t handle the strain. The emotional turmoil sped my heart up, the throbbing muscle straining to pump blood that just wasn’t there anymore, my breath burst from my lungs quicker and quicker my body starving for oxygen but unable to get it because my blood supply was almost out. Internally I was calm. I understood that now as my organs shut down, and my vision blurred, it was truly time. The cold set in, chilling me, numbing all the pain away. Dimly I was aware of Sango crying my name, her tears dribbling onto my face.

“Step aside woman.” I couldn’t see the person who spoke, but I knew his voice. Smooth, cold, regal, his voice caressed the ear like silk being drawn against naked skin

“What the hell do you want, you bastard?!” As silky smooth as his brother’s voice was, Inuyasha’s voice was rough and gritty. Sesshomaru murmured something else but I was fading away my mind drifting into darkness. The sound of Sesshomaru’s voice sent my mind drifting towards memories; memories of him, of the moment he went from being my enemy to being my ally.

 

*Non disclosure agreement

To be continued?  
So I hoped that everyone liked the first chapter. Depending on how the likes and comments go will let me know if I should continue. So please comment and let me know how you liked it.

Thanks; Meganechama


	2. Chapter Two

Disclaimer: Characters within belong to Rumiko Takahashi, unless they are my OCs in which they belong to me…  
I intend for this fic to be mostly mature with explicit sexual scenes at some point.

**This is set before Inuyasha gets the red Tessaiga**

Chapter Two

 

Hot. It was freaking hot! The air was muggy and buzzing with insects, bloated and content in the balmy summer heat, and the sky was cloudless, letting the bright sunlight beat down on our weary group. We were trudging in a single file line through a marshy grassland, Inuyasha leading the line and helping to stomp a path through the waist high grasses. I swatted at a mosquito buzzing around my head and leaned over to peek around Sango’s back hoping to see a clearing we could rest at, but of course, all I saw was endless grasses. If the weather wasn’t so disgustingly hot, I would probably be enjoying myself more. The sky was perfectly blue, with fluffy white clouds scattered across the horizon, which went perfectly well with the mosaic of colors in the grasses swaying gently with our passing. It was beautiful, but I wasn’t in any mood to enjoy it. I reached up and pinched the bridge of my nose, feeling the tension building into a headache, and sighed, loudly. 

“What now Kagome?” Inuyasha called gruffly from the front of the line, shifting my bicycle from his right shoulder to his left and kicking his foot at a particularly stubborn clump of tall dry grass in a show of his usual grumpy personality. His hair swished gently with his passing, catching glints of sunlight like spun silver, and I could see his white puppy ears twitching away flies irritably. He had to be baking in his fireproof red haori, but in his usual stubborn fashion, he wouldn’t switch it out for something cooler.

“Oh, nothing, only we’ve been stomping through this stupid endless sea of grass for hours and some of us would like to stop for lunch…” I let my words drip with as much sarcasm as I could. Shippo stirred from his heat induced lethargy atop my backpack and called out in a groan, “yeah! I’m hungry and thirsty and tired!!” Swift as a snake strike Inuyasha flipped a stone from the ground with his toes, snatched it from the air, and flicked it behind him without even looking back. My hair ruffled as the stone whizzed past and landed with a sharp crack on the crown of Shippo’s bright red head causing him to squawk and tumble from my bag.

“Be quiet runt,” he grumbled, looking back at us, “how can you be tired? Kagome has been carrying you this whole time!”

“Why do you always pick on me?” The kit cried from the ground, rubbing vigorously at a sizable lump on his head. 

Inuyasha snorted and started walking again, “because you make it easy runt. There’s a hill coming up, you can eat your stupid lunch there.” 

I seriously debated sitting him, but decided that it would be more trouble than it was worth, especially since he was being strangely cooperative. Scooping up the sniffling and grumbling kit into my arms I followed behind Sango toward the small hill in the distance, thoroughly relieved to see a tree growing on the other side, finally some shade!

We were very efficient by this time at setting up camp, and within ten minutes of arriving at the shade of the small tree, we had a blanket set out, sandwiches distributed, and the group munching gratefully at their lunches. The hill gave a good view in all directions showing that the grassland went on for some miles in a wide radius. To the east a faint serpentine glitter could be seen, winding its way across the land; a tributary we had crossed several hours ago, it would meet up with a bigger river later and go on for several hundred miles before meeting with yet another larger river and finally disgorging itself into a large bay, becoming one with the salty ocean. Miroku laughed next to me, joining in with Sango as they watched Shippo turn himself into a comical version of Koga, a wolf demon who had a crazy attraction to me and a terrible feud with Inuyasha. I smiled at them and turned my attention back towards our surroundings. We were making our way westward, some rumors had been making their way around some larger cities about a strange beast that had cropped up in a remote village in the western mountains. I was sure it was probably a shard, but strangely Inuyasha had been reluctant to come, I glanced at him perched up in the tree, perturbed by his strange behavior. As soon as we won our argument against him about the beast probably being affected by a shard, he had done a complete 180 and hurried us quickly towards our destination and now he was being increasingly cooperative. I frowned; why? Handing the last quarter of my PB&J to Shippo I stood and climbed up into the lower branches of the tree, settling on a branch next to the silver haired young man. “Okay spill, what is up with you?”

He glanced at me, “what are you talking about?”

“You know what I’m talking about. Your acting weird, what’s wrong?”

He frowned, glared at me, and then turned westward looking in the direction of our destination. “Nothing.”

I closed my eyes, praying for patience, and asked calmly, “is it because your brother lives in that direction?”

“I don’t give a rat’s ass about that bastard! Why won’t you leave me alone, stupid nosy woman!” He leapt from the tree and stalked away, fuming. Yep…I was right on the money. The wind ruffled my pony tail, flicking the long black tresses over my shoulder to stick against my sweaty neck. I groaned and turned my face gratefully into the soft breeze and flicked my hair away from my neck breathing in slowly and letting my thoughts drift towards Inuyasha’s older brother. He hadn’t been a problem for us in such a long time that I honestly forgot about him altogether. A full blooded Inu demon, the great Lord of the Western Lands, Sesshomaru was an incredibly powerful being. Our few run ins with him had only come out in our favor because of luck and his opinion of Inuyasha being so poor that he couldn’t help but underestimate his kid half-brother. I could easily understand Inuyahsa’s anxiousness at finding ourselves once again in his brother’s territory; our luck would only go so far. But a shard was a shard, and we couldn’t ignore it and give Naraku an opportunity to take it for himself. A fat bumblebee buzzed lazily past me, ambling on its way towards some distant patch of flowers, ignoring me completely. I watched it with a faint hint of envy, whishing I could also be that carefree, but duty called; so I carefully shimmied down the branch, once again exceedingly grateful I had discarded my uniform for a practical set of jeans and sturdy shirts, and helped Sango pack up. 

It was nearly nightfall when with a huge sense of relief our weary group trudged at last out of the tall grasses and into the foothills of the nearest of the small mountains that made up the Western Ridges. Another hour of walking, our pace greatly improved now that we were free of the grasses, saw us to a small village nestled between two sheer cliff faces at the eastern foot of the nearest mountain. We were hoping to find an inn. The oppressive heat and humidity had brewed up a storm and dark angry clouds dotted the horizon. The village consisted of four small well-constructed houses, a main gathering hall, a small general shop, a smithy and tanner, all clustered around a large vegetable field with a small creek running through the middle. Consulting a topographical map, from my own time, I marked in the village, stopping an elderly woman bent under the weight of her vegetable basket to ask the name. She peered at us curiously, rubbing at a loose strand of wispy grey hair, and said in a soft friendly voice, “this here is Moir Village, child. Named after the smallest of the five mountain sisters Moir the sweet.” 

I excitedly jotted down the name of the smallest mountain, eager to hear the rest of the sisters’ names. Since coming to the past I had begun recording our adventures in a small journal, and on one of my visits back to the future, became curious about whether the history books were accurate or not. Turns out, much in the way of geographical names and knowledge was lost, not to mention village names, people of importance, and even events that were recorded but not accurate were also missing or wrong. I began recording all I could, even to the point of bringing and filling out all kinds of maps and taking photographs, in order to compile an accurate history and map of the current time. And on my topographical modern map, these mountains were simply called the Western Ridges. 

“Grandmother, could you please tell me the names of the other Sisters? Why are there five Sisters? I only see four. How did they get their names? Why…” 

“Goodness child!” The old woman laughed. “Save all your questions for around the fire with a good bowl of vegetable soup! I assume you are travelers?”

“Yes! We are just passing through.”

“Well then, ours is a small village, we are always excited to see visitors. Come and stay at my home, my husband should be returning from the fields soon, and my daughter is cooking a fine meal.” She smiled at our group kindly, showing little concern for Inuyasha and Shippo, which surprised me. Most people were inherently afraid of them since they had demon blood running through their veins. It could be that this village had beneficial connections with some local demon clans or maybe they didn’t get bothered by any because the location was kind of remote. I shrugged it off, it didn’t affect us anyway.

Miroku stepped up and took the basket she had balanced on her shoulder, “please allow me to carry this for you Grandmother.”  
“How kind of you child, come then, it is growing darker, and I am sure this young lady wants her questions answered.” She guided us up to the second house on the path and into a small sitting room lovingly decorated with a lifetime of trinkets and utensils. We sat on matts woven with reeds and grasses and stuffed with straw, and ate soup served from a large bubbling pot hanging over a bright bed of coals. The older woman, named Sania, and her daughter, cradling a nursing baby to her chest, listened avidly as we told news from the east, interrupted briefly as the two men of the home returned and joined us, and eagerly listened to some stories of our travels. In return, the two men helped me to fill in a large area around the village on my map, and Sania told me about the five Sister mountains and how the eldest gave her life to save her younger siblings from the great mountain eating Demon Dortas. “…and that is why we only have four peaks, but there are five sisters.” Sania finished with a flourish. Sango looked at me across from the hearth, “there were stories in my village of Dortas too. He was a powerful Cardinal Lord who ruled over his lands with a cruelty that would make Naraku look like a baby. The tale of his demise says that the other Cardinal Lords rose up against him and struck him down to hell.”

My curiosity piqued, I was about to ask, “What’s a Cardinal Lord?” but Shippo, who had been sitting in my lap, nodded off and tumbled forwards. “Whoops!” I cried as I barely managed to snatch him up before he tumbled into the fire. “Oh my,” Sania exclaimed, “look how late it is! You all must be tired. Let me pull out some bedding for you and we can all go to bed.”  
“That sounds lovely!” I answered, gratefully standing and stretching my legs. Sango and Miroku busied themselves with laying out bedding, Miroku getting a hefty slap in the face for his wondering hands, and I, cradling the sleeping kit, stepped over to the wooden engawa* looking for the closest tree to the house. “Are you going to sleep inside?” I asked to the leaves and branches of a nearby pine. 

“Do I ever?” Inuyasha replied, gruff as per his usual. 

“It wouldn’t hurt you to accept their hospitality.” I said in exasperation. He could be so infuriating sometimes. “They are good, kind, people. I think we are safe for the night.” 

I was answered with silence for a moment, and then, with barely a rustle, he dropped from his hidden spot in the branches and stalked towards me. “And how many times have I saved your stupid life because I kept watch? Hmm?” He growled, nose to nose with me since I was standing on the elevated wooden planks. I was about to answer him with a scathing remark, but the words died in my throat as his fingers brushed against my cheek. I didn’t dare to breathe as he traced the curve of my cheek with his claw and then brushed a stray strand of hair behind my ear. The moment was so fragile, my heart thundering around in my ribcage like a trapped bear, my feelings for him welled up and threatened to choke me. Was he going to kiss me? Our eyes held for a moment, and then he looked away, crushing my momentary flare of hope, and muttered under his breath, “if you all weren’t so damn weak and spineless I wouldn’t have to keep watch over you now would I?” My momentary flare of feelings soured and spiraled into a deep irritation. Why, oh why, did I have to have feelings for this absolute idiot?

He must have seen my intent on my face because he suddenly stepped a few paces back and with a white face said, “Wait Kagome! I didn’t mean it that way!”

But I was having none of it, “Inuyasha, SIT!” With a loud thoom, and a crunch, his face smashed into the ground, the intensity of my irritation grinding him into the soil. “Why don’t you keep watch on the gravel?!” I snarled before stalking inside to stew. It was petty, I know, but it definitely made me feel better.

As I predicted, we slept perfectly safe through the whole night, and ate a delicious breakfast the next day. Inuyasha pointedly ignored me and chose to eat his meal in the boughs of his pine. Which was stupid, because it was raining. The sullen grey clouds hung low and clung to the Sisters with a gloomy tenacity, letting loose a steady drizzle that soaked through our clothes quickly. I looked up at the sky gloomily, today’s hike wasn’t going to be fun. My backpack had a compartment with rain gear, and I pulled out ponchos for each of us except Inuyasha. He stubbornly refused his. Thanking the kind family once again, we continued our trudge westward, skirting the easternmost Sister, Moir, and making our way along a well-worn path. This path led us to several more villages that steadily got larger the further into the western lands we went. At every village we went through, we inquired about the village with the strange beast, and began getting credible information. Apparently the village was called Ageha Village, named for the seasonal migrations of butterflies, and it was extremely remote. So remote, in fact, that it wasn’t unusual to hear nothing from the village for a few weeks. But the village had gone silent a few months ago and then the next village over too, and the next as well until the whole area was a zone where anyone that went in didn’t come back. And then the rumors about the strange beast began popping up. People began to see the beast ranging around the forest where the silent villagers were, and it wasn’t staying put, it was expanding its territory getting braver and venturing out of the tree line more and more. “They are calling it the “Mouth Beast”. I said to the group several nights later as we finished our dinners around our campfire. We were less than a day’s hike from the Mouth Beast’s territory and by majority vote decided to take an early evening to be well rested for the next day.

“That’s a weird name,” Shippo said, munching on a chunk of jerky.

“I also think this is a strange name, however, even stranger is the fact that there has been no word at all from the villages attacked.” Miroku murmured from across the fire.

“Yeah,” I replied, placing my used plate aside for cleaning in the stream later, “that young mother I spoke to in the last village said that her sister lives in one of the villages attacked by the Mouth Beast and she hasn’t been able to contact her sister at all. So she sent her husband to go check on her sister and he hasn’t come home or been heard from at all. It turns out that so far anyone going into that particular area disappears and is never heard from again, and the territory of this monster is slowly getting bigger. It’s even starting to disrupt trade.”

Sango, who had been quietly cleaning and oiling her giant boomerang, spoke up, her face grim. “I have a bad feeling about this Kagome. Have you sensed anything unusual?”

“I feel uneasy too, and it’s not just from the fact that whatever this is its bad news, the air also feels wrong…off” The hair on the back of my neck lifted, raising gooseflesh on my arms and causing me to shiver. It was a feeling I was getting increasingly more frequent the closer to this area we were getting, and like Sango, I didn’t like it. 

“You guys are all a bunch of chickens!” Inuyasha growled from his perch on a nearby low hanging branch. “It can’t be any worse than everything else we’ve faced so quit whining.”

“I don’t know Inuyasha” I murmured, ignoring his insults, “this feels like Naraku at play, it makes me nervous.”

He scoffed, “I’ll take care of it no matter who it is!” And with that proclamation he leaned back on the tree and closed his eyes, letting the rest of us know in no uncertain terms that the discussion was over. I rolled my eyes at him and gave Sango a suffering look, one that she returned, and unrolled my bed roll. After tucking Shippo in I helped Sango gather our dishes and laundry and we made our way to the nearby river. We made quick work of the dishes and laundry, hanging the clothes near the banked fire to dry, and returned to the river to wash ourselves. Sango removed her yukata, and then began the tedious work of removing her demon slayer outfit. First removing the plates of demon bone and hide armor and then peeling the skintight black cloth from her body, and finally finishing by untying her hair so that the long glossy ebony strands rippled in the slight breeze like a river of obsidian. I felt a pang of jealousy as I watched her sleek athletic build ease into the cold waters of the gently flowing waterway. She was very beautiful and powerful, her skin was pale as ivory and she was well muscled but still curvaceous. I looked down at my plump curves and sighed, for all my efforts to diet and restrict calories, I just couldn’t compete. “What’s wrong Kagome?” Sango asked scrubbing some of my shampoo into her hair. I always made sure to buy environmentally friendly shampoo so that I could wash in the streams and springs without feeling guilty. I helped myself to a glob of the shampoo and looked pointedly at her figure.

“Just feeling a little jealous, my diet isn’t going as well as I hoped.” 

She laughed, moving on to the bar of soap, “you say that every time!”

“Ugh, don’t remind me! It never fails, every time we wash I realize how pudgy I am.” I groaned, taking the soap from the giggling woman. She leaned over and poked me on my hip causing me to squeal and drop the soap. After a few breathless moments spent giggling and searching for our soap bar, I resumed scrubbing my skin of the day’s travel grime.

“You know Kagome, I feel the same about you.” She said quietly. I paused and looked at her startled. “I am very hard for a woman. Many men do not find me attractive because I am so strong and independent.” She took the soap bar from me and began scrubbing my back, “you may be a little soft, but that is what men love. They love a woman who is soft to touch and cuddle with. I don’t think you need these “diets” that you keep imposing upon yourself, I think you are beautiful the way you are.”

I felt a lump rise in my throat and turned around and hugged her tightly. She was the sister I’d never had growing up, and I loved her more than words could say. “Sango I-“I began, but she shushed me with her fingers against my lips. Slowly she bent down and picked up a fist sized rock and then, with quicksilver speed, she hurled the rock into the bushes. There was a loud crack and a squawk and Sango hissed angrily into the night, “Miroku I swear to the Gods I’ll kill you if you are peeping!” The bush rustled and, not the monk as we expected, but the lord of the West himself stepped into the clearing.

I stood there dumbstruck, completely naked, and stared as Sesshomaru, brother to Inuyasha, stepped out of the bushes.   
He was as regal as ever, garbed in white silk, long fluffy tail draped over one shoulder, long silver white hair like spun moonbeams drifting in the breeze, and liquid gold eyes. He held himself with an air of importance, a subtle feline grace in his limbs, and an air of deadly calm. He was imposing, the forest quiet as all the small creatures cowered in the presence of so terrifying a predator, and I felt it, that imperceptible tingle running down my spine like a drop of ice water that told me I was prey. Our eyes met, liquid gold clashing with cobalt blue, and held for a few moments, my heart stuttering and my breath catching in my chest. Fear flushed my system, and then something else, like a slow moving river of lava deep beneath the earth’s crust some other emotion pushed through the fear and flushed my body. I didn’t know what it was, but I did know that suddenly I wasn’t afraid anymore, and I knew that he knew. I could see his perfectly arched eyebrows rise in a barely perceptible show of surprise, and his eyes smoldered with indecipherable thoughts. 

And the moment was over. Water sloshed wetly against my side, startling me, and tearing my eyes away from his so that I could see what splashed me. Sango was lunging for her Hiraikotsu. Her hand was an inch from the tasseled handhold when suddenly the pair of gilded boots and silk clad legs of the Lord of the West were standing on the heavy bone weapon. His face was emotionless as she thrust backwards towards me and shoved me behind her producing a wickedly sharp palm length bone dagger from who knows where and brandishing it in front of us. “Don’t come any closer demon!” She threatened her voice vicious and deadly, but I could feel her shivering in terror.

The demon lord arched an eyebrow, as if to say, “Like I should be afraid of you?” and slowly folded himself into a cross-legged sitting position upon the boomerang. He tossed something aside to fall in a groaning heap on the rocky ground, and I saw Jaken, his toad like lackey unconscious with a huge lump on his head, courtesy of Sango’s thrown rock. He ignored Sango completely and locked indifferent eyes with me again. “You, human priestess, you are coming with me.”

“The hell she is!” Inuyasha screamed as he burst from the tree line, hands clenched around his sword Tessaiga. Miroku and Shippo were close on his heels, Miroku brandishing his staff, as his wind tunnel would endanger Sango and I, and Shippo with his arms full of our clothing. It was that moment I realized that Sango and I were very naked. I shrieked and plunged neck deep into the cold water, trying and failing to pull the other woman with me. 

“Now is not the time for modesty Kagome. Our lives are at stake!” Sango said, her fist tightening on the handle of her blade. I stayed silent, completely embarrassed, she was right, but I wasn’t afraid and I was naked surrounded by men, so embarrassment it was. 

“Your fight is with me Sesshomaru, leave them alone!” Inuyasha spat.

Sesshomaru turned to appraise his hot headed brother with an indifferent bored expression. “I have no fight with the likes of you half breed, I only demand the use of the Priestess.” 

“Demand?” I sputtered. At the same time Inuyasha choked incoherently, his face flushing an interesting shade of reddish purple. He screamed and threw himself at his brother, swinging Tessaiga in a huge arc, to clash with Tenseiga, Sesshomaru’s blade, in a shrieking ring of metal. The lord was on his feet ten paces away from the boomerang in the blink of an eye, and with a blur of motion, smashed his fist into Inuyasha’s face, sending the half-demon flying backwards to smash through the trees.   
Sango lunged forward to reach for her boomerang and was snatched from the water by her throat, choking and gasping in the demon lord’s grip. Miroku cried and ran forward swinging his staff at the demon’s legs, but was sent flying by a lightning fast kick to the ribs. My nakedness forgotten I sloshed through the water, my heart throbbing with adrenaline, and snatched up Sango’s bone knife. I was scrambling up the slick rocks of the river’s edge when Shippo launched himself at Sesshomaru’s exposed left side, where he was missing an arm. But the small kit proved to be barely and irritation to the Daiyoukai, he was swept into the water of the river by the Lord’s large fluffy tail. The Lord stilled though, when I pressed Sango’s bone knife against his ribcage, poking harshly between the bones. A few training sessions with Kaede, the old priestess from the village by the well, had taught me that I could run my purifying power through anything I held if I concentrated, and now, the blade in my hands crackled dangerously. “Let her go.” I threatened, my voice steady and fierce. He met eyes with mine, blue once again clashing with gold. His eyes were cold, challenging and arrogant, but at the sound of Sango gasping I pressed the blade harder, defiant. Quick as lightning, his hand was around my wrist, squeezing until with a gasp of pain I dropped the knife, and with a huge splash Sango dropped into the river. He grabbed me and tossed me over his shoulder, knocking the wind right out of my lungs as my stomach collided with his armor, and snatched the back of Jaken’s clothing with his hand. And with that he took off at a breath taking run, causing me to scrabble against his armor to stay on, I was sure that a fall at that speed could maim or even kill me. “GET BACK HERE!” Echoed behind us, but faded almost immediately into the distance. I kicked viciously against his front bruising my shins on his rock hard body and crying out when one of the spikes on his armor stabbed into my side. Digging the fingers of my left hand deeper into his clothes for a better hold I pressed my other hand against my side where the pain was and continued to kick him. This proved fruitless. I was hurting myself more than him, close inspection of my right hand showed a smear of blood, nothing life threatening though. Suddenly, I had a great idea. “Let me go!” I shrieked directly into his ear, and felt a flush of triumph as he jerked his face away from me and slowed to a halt. Unceremoniously I was dumped onto the ground, yelping when my tailbone smacked a tree root. He rubbed his ear, a look of disgust on his face when he turned his glare onto me.

“Do you want me to go back and kill your precious friends?” He asked, his voice smooth as silk and oh so deadly.

“Of course not!” I snarled back, checking the bloody scratch on my ribs, and covering nakedness with my arms as best as I could.

“Then you are going to come with me.” He turned and walked away, not looking back to see if I was following. 

I stared after him with my mouth agape, he couldn’t be serious, and Inuyasha was surely only moments behind us. “Why?” I asked, trying to buy some time, “I thought you hated humans?”

He stopped and turned to look at me, frowning in irritation, which surprised me, because he was normally very emotionally distant. “You are right, I dislike humans…no; I detest them. However, I have need of your purifying abilities, and I am not going to ask you again. Come with me now, or I will go back and kill your little group, and take you anyway.” He ended on an irritated hiss, which sent a shiver running down my spine, but I knew he was serious. So I stood up, one hand pressed against my chest and another in front of my lower bits, trying and failing to protect my modesty. He looked at me for a moment, took a step towards me, and was interrupted by whatever he was going to do when Inuyasha burst through the bushes. 

“WIND SCAR” Inuyasha screamed, slashing his blade down towards his brother. But Sesshomaru was expecting this and leapt out of the way grabbing me and Jaken and landing several yards away from the smoking gashes in the earth. “Let her go you bastard!” Inuyasha screamed.

“I will make a promise to you girl.” Sesshomaru whispered against my ear. I shivered, gooseflesh raising against my skin, as his breath tickled my ear, and his dangerously sharp talons rested against my collar bone, effectively keeping Inuyasha at bay. “Come with me and do what I need, and I will bring you back, and I won’t slay my brother where he stands.”

My pulse raced, I couldn’t believe he was making a deal with me. Whatever he needed me for, it had to be important. “I want something else.” I said under my breath, a thrill running through my veins as I negotiated with the most dangerous man I’d ever met. His talons twitched against my collar bone, belying his annoyance, but he leaned down again keeping he eyes on the raging hanyou, and murmured, “go on.” 

“Promise to ally with us against Naraku.” I said, and added, “and leave Inuyasha alone.”

He stilled, then snorted slightly, “done, I don’t like the demon pretender, he has vexed me more than once, and Inuyasha does not interest me anymore anyway.”

“Done.” I agreed, sealing the deal. 

…TBC…

And there is the second chapter! Hope you guys like it, and I am sorry it took so long. I will be updating more frequently, so keep an eye out for me! 

Thanks, 

Meganechama

Engawa- wrap around covered porch for Japanese houses. Typically uses as a social area.


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